Saturday, 18 October 2014

It’s that
time again, when we are preparing our Christmas soap!! This time of the year is
a fun one for me… We have calmed down
from our busy summer, done a few tradefairs in Northern Spain which were new
for us so we travelled a bit as well.

Now back to experimenting, product development and production!

Originally
this was my “potpourri” soap experiment.
Now it is our tradition that we save up our cut offs over the year and use
them up in our Christmas soap. Grated, shaved or cut into bits.

This year, we are hoping to have enough bars to donate to some of the local charities.

I got
carried away and had a bit of a disaster when trying something new… I had to work it into the mould, like
playdough with gloved hands. That was a
first...!

Friday, 27 June 2014

I have been
meaning to write about pricing for a while now. Ever since I saw a post on a soapers blog
calling another soaper’s soap “pricey”.This was during that trend a few years ago when people sent their soaps
in for soap reviews?I was never really
into the soap review thing… neither having my soap judged/reviewed nor publicly judging
or reviewing other people’s.I
have tried others soapers' soaps and have found something I like about each and
every one.I love my own the best though
as I hope all of you do as well!!

I didn’t
like seeing someone calling another soaper’s soap as “pricey”.I know most of us are undercharging and
when I see someone who is charging more, I am rooting for them!Let’s look at my soaps – 6€ per bar.Not very often, a new client will make a
comment about the price… and I try not to react but my blood boils.I usually smile politely and say I am sure
they can find cheaper soaps out there, not sure they will be the same quality
and although I would love to offer a soap for less, I am not prepared to lower
the quality of our ingredients.But
what I really want to say is:

- Do
you realize that within those 6€, 21% of that goes to the government as sales
tax? So I only really see 5€. Many soapers here don’t actually declare
their income from soaps but we do, and we pay our taxes.

- Do
you realize that another € of that goes to packaging? Locally handmade packaging that offers 4
different work sources locally? ( 1) we purchase the material locally, 2) a
local lady hand makes them for us, 3) we get them stamped locally by a small
t-shirt printing company, and 4) our bag tags are printed by a small local
printer) . We could get them printed in
China for pennies, if I wanted to bring the price down, but that is not what we
are about.

- Do
you realize that I use only ingredients that are fabulous for you?Ingredients that I feel amazing about using,
only natural, mostly local?I am not
using recycled olive oil as many other soapers do here.We use only fresh organic, extra-virgin olive
oil from our local olive oil mill.We
could use palm oil, which would harden up the bars and bring price down, but I don’t
feel great about its environmental implications, so we don’t.We use organic un-refined Shea Butter in all
of our soaps except for Castille.And
only pure essential oils.

- Do
you realize that instead of making these in our kitchen, we actually have a
dedicated studio as required by Health and Safety here and pay monthly rent,
insurance, electricity, water, social security which is expensive here in
Spain, and that we pay for an analysis from an external laboratory for each
batch?

- Do
you know that in pricing our soaps, I can’t actually include my time or there
would appear no profit?

- Do
you know that we have not increased the price of our soaps in 3 years although
the cost of living has gone up?

That is
secretly what I wish to say. But I don’t. Most of our clients are pretty amazing and
get what we are all about. Most don’t
have a problem at all paying 6€ per bar.
I will eventually have to increase that price. Especially if we are going for the official “organic”
label here.

So to all
those soapers out there who are able to charge what your soaps are actually
worth -well done!!!!!

I am
including some random photos over the past few months. We have been getting out to more and more
trade shows and loving it.

The journey
continues to be amazing and I am so thankful to be doing what I love each and
every day!!!

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Silvia at http://soapjam.wordpress.com/ is one of those lovely soapmakers and bloggers that contacted me early on in her soap making adventures, full of excitement and questions. I love getting those emails from excited new soapmakers and love helping them. I really can't believe how far she has come in less than a year!!

We had 75 litres of wonderful, rich, recently pressed organic extra-virgen olive oil was delivered the other day by David from the olive oil mil we work with. Inhaling the scent is heaven... so we are heading into full-on soap production! So excited! We are also making soap for this olive oil mill with their oil.

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

It has been such a while since I have blogged, and I
got one of those emails yesterday that I get occasionally from another soaper
reminding me that my blog inspired them.If I have inspired one person out there, blogging feels more than worth
it.

So, what have I been up to?Working hard at the most awesome job I have
ever had.I remember vividly when I was
at the point of stress breakdown from the job that led me to where I am now
(yes, I am far enough away to look back now and understand why I had to go
through that…). I said to mum “I want NO stress in my life.” She said “I have a
feeling that there will always be some form of stress… you may leave the
stressful job behind for a simpler life, but then there may be a new form of
stress, maybe money stress.Shouldn’t
you focus on learning how to deal with stress instead of trying to escape
it?”So wise.So, amidst the most creative time ever in my
life, living my dream, making soap and other awesome products, supporting the
local community, there is still stress, but it’s okay.Some months I wonder if people still
wash!!Where are the orders?Other months, we have so little time that we
are making soap till midnight!Looking
back on 2013 and what I have learned so that I can share it with you?

1)It is possible to make a living from soap making.However, it is very important to know how to
run a business.Numbers & pricing.
Organization. Prioritizing are keys.Sometimes I do it better than other times and I am always learning.

2)Competition
shouldn’t scare you.More and more soap
makers pop up at the markets and fairs we do, but that’s all right.Each one is offering something unique.Uniqueness is important.What makes your product different from
others?

3)Stick
to your core values.Getting those
values across to clients is important.Although profit is important, so is enjoying what you do, and if you
understand your values and stick to them, you will enjoy it so much more.This is where you have to balance the “head”
and “heart”.If it were all “head”, I
wouldn’t enjoy it.

4)The
“down” moments are the moments when you most need to remember what you are
thankful for.I keep a Gratitude journal
and try to write down several things before bed that I am thankful for.It can be the simplest of things – “My warm
cozy duvet”, “The morning sunlight over the Mediterranean”, “My daughter’s
enjoyment of my homemade pizza at lunch today.” When you look for things to be
thankful for, it changes your approach to and outlook on life.

If 2012 was setting up the business with our own shop
and dedicated location for production (the studio), 2013 was about growing the
business.We developed and released
several new products – Facial Serum, a Facial scrub and Liquid soap. We have been selected by Biocultura to
participate in the biggest organic trade fairs in Spain this year.The first one – in Valencia – is next month!We got a van so we no longer need to rent a
vehicle to transport things to trade fairs.We doubled batch size so that we make more soap at a time.And so many more wonderful things have
happened.

Now, I am focusing on the Social Networks, which is time-consuming
but important for increasing web sales.Currently putting out a photo campaign of our products in use around the
world!If anyone is using one of our
products out there – send us a photo with it on your hand and your town in the
background!Come join us on Facebook,
Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram!

Sunday, 10 November 2013

As a follow up, I just want to let you know that after 5 weeks of curing, the pH of this soap/ shampoo bar, is no different than my other bars without Citric Acid. It has not brought the pH level down.

The shampoo bar is okay, but I actually prefer my bars without it!

It was an interesting experiment, although I have so many other things to experiment with... so will probably not be focussing on this right now. I remind myself that I am not that concerned with lowering the pH in my soap bars as I am okay with where they are.

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

So many
choices and decisions to make when soaping - size, shape, properties, colour,
scent, packaging etc. etc.

So, for
those of you who use exclusively essential oils in your soaps and skincare
products, do you create your blends based on how it smells or what it will do
for your skin?

(My latest Potpourri Soap - with Lavender, Lemongrass, Fennel and Ylang Ylang Essential oils, a blend I created for the scent...)

I usually
aim for therapeutic value…. But try to blend nice scents. For example, our oily skin soap has a nice
blend of Tea Tree with Eucalyptus.Our sensitive
skin soap has my favourite blend – Patchouli, Geranium and Lavender.

Sometimes it is more difficult… so many things to think about.In creating our Rose Hip facial serum, as we are aiming this product at
mature skin, I had a blend in my mind before ever smelling one of the essential
oils I wanted in it… Then it arrived… I opened the bottle with so much
anticipation (I am like a kid in a candy store with new essential oils!!), and
YUCK.Have you ever smelled Carrot Seed
Essential Oil?Well, it smells like DIRT.I knew I didn’t want any citrus essential
oils in a product specifically for the face because of photo-sensitivity and
was sure I wanted Frankincense in it… so I finally came up with a blend that is
loaded with therapeutic value for the skin, and has a pleasant but not a Wow
scent.

Me, at our stand at the Artisan trade fair we did this past weekend in Murcia

Maybe I
will grow to like Carrot Seed Oil?That
has happened to me with several oils in the past.Oh how I love essential oils… blending… sniffing…
inhaling… some are love at first sniff… the passion develops slowly for others…
like patchouli (which I couldn’t stand at first but now love it but only in
blends), and like my new obsession – Vetiver.What a change from supplier to supplier… I recently opened my vetiver
essential oil from a new, local, supplier and WOW!Previously Vetiver was simply smokey campfire
to me… unique but basic.Had never
created a blend I loved with it… but now?I can’t get enough.Alone,
blended, whatever… the oil from this new supplier is incredible… it is more
than smokey campfire, it is bewitching, lingering, enticing, sensual,
reminiscent, luring, addicting, playful yet calming, up & down,
feet-on-the-ground yet magic-carpet ride… I am in love.

Questions
for you:

1)What are your favourite Essential
Oil blends for soap and for other skincare products? Why?

2)Does anyone out there like the scent
of Carrot Seed Essential oil?What do
you blend it with?

3)What are your favourite Frankincense
blends?

4)Can you contribute any soapy essential
oil blends with Vetiver?

5)As the scent of essential oils
changes during the soaping process, I have had certain blends turn out
beautifully in soap, but then haven’t been able to achieve the same scent in a
non-soap product! Like patchouli, geranium and lavender… I have been trying to duplicate
my soap scent for one of my moisturizing creams… I have attempted so many
different versions but it never comes out smelling like the soap.Any tips?

I am still trying to come up with something to do with that big batch of wrecked wine soap I made earlier this week... i will most likely be cutting or grating it up for a potpourri Christmas soap.... then if there are left overs, I grate it into my laundry soap but onto the happier story....

I continued with wine soap and bravely made another batch that turned out wonderfully. I used to make wine soap but in smaller batches and had no problem, did not need to boil the wine down as seems to be recommended. This is a private label soap, that I had been making for a local Winery. I tweaked the recipe slightly this time, adding a little silk, and new essential oils.

Curiously, upping the batch size, changed everything. heat heat heat. So, I made a new batch, this time using red wine that I boiled down and reduced first.

It still accelerated, but was managable. This time trace took 5 minutes instead of the distaster batch, which didn't even let me get the stick blender into it before hardening in Globs.

The scent? I added a blend of Essential Oils of Cedarwood, Lavender, Ylang Ylang, May Chang and Vetiver... but it still smells more like wine than of Essential Oils.

This batch also got ash on the top and this is a first for me. I always thought that ash came from sunflower oil soaps and as I don't use sunflower oil, I had never had it before.. But this appeared out of nowhere and I like it. I know that sometimes ash is undesirable, but I like the way this top turned out - kind of romantic.

So pleased with my new wine soap. So pleased that I am sorry to be handing this entire lot over to the winery.... I think I will be making another batch to sell in the shop!!